Canadian Premiere
In her third film with VIFF mainstay Hong Sangsoo, Isabelle Huppert plays a mysterious Frenchwoman abroad in South Korea. Iris is her name, and as the movie opens she’s giving a most unconventional language lesson to Isong (Kim Seungyun), a novice French learner and amateur musician. Next in Iris’s schedule are Wonju (Lee Hyeyoung) and Haesoon (Kwon Haehyo), a couple for whom instruction will involve significant quantities of booze. As we follow this quirky lady through a series of encounters, Hong deploys suggestive repetition, with motifs that recur from scene to scene—only to break the pattern by introducing Iris’s much-younger boyfriend Inguk (Ha Seongguk)…
Hong is a major filmmaker of modest means: out of awkward social encounters, relatable human folly, and teasing enigmas, he’s built one of contemporary cinema’s most impressive oeuvres. Here he explores cultural difference with a unique method but typically humorous results. Much like the Korean poetry it showcases, A Traveler’s Needs is deceptively small-scale and delicately profound—a lovely little work of art.
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, Berlin 2024
Media Partner
Community Partner
Isabelle Huppert, Lee Hyeyoung, Kwon Haehyo, Cho Yunhee, Ha Seongguk
South Korea
2024
In English, French and Korean with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Hong Sangsoo
Screenwriter
Hong Sangsoo
Cinematography
Hong Sangsoo
Editor
Hong Sangsoo
Original Music
Hong Sangsoo
Hong Sangsoo 홍상수
Hong Sangsoo was born in Seoul, South Korea on Oct. 25, 1960. He studied at Chung-Ang University, California College of the Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He made his first feature film in 1996. Since then he has made 31 feature films and a few short films.
Filmography: The Power of Kangwon Province (1998); A Tale of Cinema (2005); The Day He Arrives (2011); Right Now, Wrong Then (2015); On the Beach at Night Alone (2017); Introduction (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning (2018) is a sardonic, slow-burning satire about two couples: a documentary filmmaker married to a wealthy businessman, and a working-class family struggling to make ends meet after the husband has been laid off.
The Exorcist
Thirteen-year-old Linda Blair is Regan, the movie star daughter who is possessed by a demon, and whose body becomes a spiritual battleground. It builds slowly, carefully, into a maelstrom of sheer unadulterated horror.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
An American Werewolf in London
Two American students get into a spot of bother with the wildlife in rural England. Then they introduce the virus to the big city... John Landis's goofy horror comedy is a very good night out. So long as it's not a full moon...